A River's Journey
by River Digi
Summary: A new trainer's journey begins.. but how long will it last? AN: The story is the journal of a 10 year old.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own pokemon. Original characters, like Rio and Aurora(For her unique coloration, all other dratini are not mine). Original places, like Stonehand(and the other cities I'll create) are also mine.

This is the first story I've ever written, so I tried to post a link to the song I wanted to it's theme song, but I can't get it to copy/paste successfully.

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I lived in a small town called Stonehand deep in the Hoenn region, so named because all the pokemon in the area are either fighting, rock, or ground types. Because of this, the people of Stonehand have a... dislike of the all others types. On the eve of my tenth birthday my mother gave me my very first pokeball and said tomorrow I could go into the mountains alone to catch my first pokemon. This is what caused all my troubles...

I'd been going up into the mountains and had become friends with all the pokemon who lived in them, so I knew I'd be safe. After opening presents(a pokenav, a pokedex, a new backpack filled with fresh supplies, and a small stack of cash), I set off into the mountains. A few hours into my trip I'd seen a lot of my pokemon friends but couldn't bring myself to catch any of them. It was starting to get dark and I was headed for home when I heard a whimper come from some nearby brush. I knew no pokemon native to this region could make such a high-pitched sound so I went to investigate. You can imagine my surprise when, upon going to help the pokemon, I found a silvery-blue dratini with a large burn on it's side.

Instinct kicked in and I began searching for the burn ointment I kept in my pack.

The noise must have woke it up, because it started hissing at me. Not to be put off, I carefully pinned the little dragon, and started applying the ointment. When I started to put a bandage on it, the dratini passed out from exhaustion and pain. After setting the final bandage in place, I set up camp and started a cooking fire. By the time the soup was ready, I noticed the dratini watching me warily and eying the soup with obvious longing, so I put a small bowl in front of it and returned to mi side of the fire. After finding nothing wrong with the soup, the little pokemon began eating like a munchlax.

Being full seemed to cause the dratini to trust me, because it came right over, curled up next to me, and promptly went to sleep. At this distance I could see my eyes hadn't fooled me earlier, the little dragon type's skin was indeed an unusual silver-blue, giving a iridescent sheen in the fire light. The horn on it's head looked like it was made from pearl. Deciding it was time for bed, I began to clean the camp. As gently as possible, I picked the dratini up, brought it into the tent, and placed it on my spare pillow. After checking to make sure it's bandage didn't need changing, I settled down in my sleeping bag and went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2 part 1

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I woke up feeling a small draft rustle my sleeping bag slightly. This confused me for a moment, because a remember zipping the tent all the way. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I looked around. The dratini was gone and the tent flap had been opened. Sad that it was gone, I packed the tent and started breakfast. The food was almost ready when I heard the nearby bushes rustle. Looking over I saw the dratini from last night emerge, a small leaf-bundle in it's mouth. The bundle fell open when the dratini placed it in front of me, revealing berries. It seemed like the small dragon-type was repaying me for bandaging it up last night!

"Thanks, I'll put these in the oatmeal right away. My name's Rio, by the way."

As I moved to add the berries to the food, the pokeball at my belt brushed the dratini. A flash of light lit the area. The ball wiggled only once before it beeped, indicating dratini had been caught. When I let it out, it seemed happy, and I couldn't help but be overcome with the joy of catching my first pokemon. As I lifted it into my arms, dratini made a small sound. When I realized it was laughing, I threw it into the air, I caught it, and let it curl around my shoulders.

I fell down, laughing so hard I cried. Looking over at the dratini, I realized I'd yet to give it a nickname(something I had planned to do with my first six pokemon). When I checked my pokedex, it said you could tell what gender a dratini was by the length of it's body compared to the length of it's horn. Taking a guess, I thought the little dragon-type was female. I tried for at least an hour to think of a good name, but none seemed to fit. Finally, I looked over at her and notice the way light bounced of her scales. It reminded me of something I'd learned about the more northern part of the world.

"Aurora... do you like that name dratini?"

The small blue pokemon seemed to give this a lot of thought, but finally gave a vigorous nod gave me her answer.

"Well I guess its time to head home and tell..."

Then I remembered where I lived and what would happen if I went home. My mother would be furious and force me to release Aurora, while my brother Zane would tease me endlessly. I didn't have to worry about my dad, he'd been gone so long everyone thought he was dead. After my family was done with me I had the rest of Stonefist to worry about...


	3. Author's Note

I am aware of the Mary Sue aspect of the story. When I started writing this, please understand I had no idea what a Mary Sue was(other than a feminine name). I do not believe there are anymore Mary Sue's in this fic, but I can't be sure. There may be one or two concerning Rio's brother.

Rio is a boy. He is the usual height and weight for a 10 year old boy, with blue eyes and short, black hair. He also tends to worry a bit too much over little things, and not enough about big things.

Yes, I know shiny Dratini are pink. But shiny Dratini are not unique, are they? Aurora's coloration is the only thing special about her, and it is her one identifying feature. In all other aspects, she is completely ordinary.

It has been brought to my attention(see reviews), that the chapters sound more like summaries. This has lead me to believe I was trying to write the story as a series of journal entries made by a 10 year old boy, or an old man remembering his youth. Probably the 10 year old version.

Moving on to finding a Dratini on a mountain. What could I possibly been thinking!? It's not like I haven't read that Dratini live in undersea colonies or have a plan or anything even remotely similar...


	4. Chapter 3

I finally decided to go home, saying that I'd only come back for supplies and had no success catching a pokemon. In truth, I was planning to use the road going through town to make a run for the more southern regions of Hoenn, hoping none would follow. I was surprisingly calm by the time I arrived home, confident my plan would work. I told my mom I was planning go to Altian Town after I caught my first pokemon.

"Don't forget these then." Smiling, she picked up a new backpack fairly bulging with supplies, the presents I hadn't taken with me last night, and a new jacket. All I could do was stand there, thinking of how it would hurt her when I ran south. While she was handing me these items, I felt someone tug Aurora's ball from my belt.

"You aren't leaving without showing off your first catch are you little bro?"

I turn quickly, but wasn't able to stop my brother Zane from tossing the pokeball into the air, letting Aurora out for my mom to see...

In a blur, I grabbed Aurora, snatched my gear, and started running for the one place I might have a chance to escape, the mountains. Back at home, my mom recovered first.

"Zane, go after Rio and do whatever it takes to get him to release that... thing. Then bring him back. Snapping out of his daze, Zane went too his room and grabbed two pokeballs on purpose and the other four at random. Once outside, my brother called his Onix out and hopped on it, not saying a word to my mom. By now I'd managed to make to the base of the mountain,where I was leaning on a tree, breathing heavily.

"Aurora, what are we going do now? The only way I can go back home is if I release you, and I swear I'll never do that." Trying to comfort me, Aurora climbed up my arm and draped herself along my shoulders and squeezed gently. It worked. A smile on my face, I stood up and began to walk up the mountain again.

"I'm sure we'll think of something, huh? We're friends now, and nothing can ever change that! Let's find someplace hard to get to where I can pitch our tent. At least then we'll have a chance to hear if anyone's trying to sneak up on us, won't we?"

After about five minutes of hard walking, I heard something far below us on the mountain. That's when I heard the shout.

"Rio! Get back here, we need to talk!" It was Zane, and from the noise I guessed he was using his Onix to follow me.

"I can't outrun an Onix! But that won't stop me from trying, I know these mountains better than Zane, so at least we have a chance. Aurora, I'm going to put you back in your ball so I can move faster, okay?" Once she was safely in her ball, I started running faster than I had ever run before.


	5. Chapter 4

After a few hours of running, I couldn't hear Zane behind me anymore. I thought that meant my trick had worked. I'd left ones of my pokeballs on a side trail, hoping he'd think I'd gone down that path. By the time I thought it was safe to set up camp, it was almost night. After pitching the tent under a tree and letting Aurora out to stretch, I went to find some firewood. When a returned after a half-hour, I saw there was a light in my tent, casting a shadow of whoever was in there on the side of the tent. I saw Aurora poke her head out of the tent and, upon seeing me, she let out a shrill whistle and slipped back inside. I knew someone was in there and was nervous about a stranger being in my tent, but I wasn't about to leave Aurora in there all by herself, even if she did seem to trust whoever was in the tent. It was a definite shock when I opened the tent flap, to see Aurora curled up next to my brother.

Smiling, Zane tossed me a pillow and motioned for me to sit.

"Hello Rio, I hope your not to disappointed that I foun-" I cut him off by tackling him to the ground. We fought for a bit, and didn't stop until Aurora shrieked in our ears. Once the ringing stopped, I glared at my older brother.

"I'm not going home, and I'm definitely not releasing Aurora. I don't care what you do."

"Really? Well that's good, since I wasn't going to take you home anyway. I came after you to offer any help I can give, and I also thought I show you my secret since I accidentally revealed yours." I was caught off guard with that statement. I was sure Mom had sent him to bring me home.

"What are you talking about? You don't have any secrets so don't lie to me!"

He just smiled and took a pokeball that I didn't recognize from his belt.

"Rio, I'd like you to meet Ilara." He opened the pokeball and what I saw made my eyes widen and I even stopped breathing for a moment.

"When do you catch that!?"


End file.
